Sudden Motion Sensor disabled constantly after Leopard install and upgrade

Hello,
After I upgraded Tiger to Leopard my Sudden Motion Sensor is constantly disabled. I have tried alot now, including a complete reinstall of Leopard (which now looks like a waste of time, since it didnt help at all).
I called Apple support yesterday and the guy i talked to had me doin alot of stuff - botting with a key combination, creating a new account, and now after his advise doing a hardware test and if that didnt work I should try reinstalling Leopard.
All done, nothing changed. It still shows;
Sudden Motion Sensor:
Status: Slået fra (danish, properly says disabled in english)
AMSTracker and all other software that uses SMS doesn't react on anything.
I haven't tried installing Tiger again since I have to use this laptop on work by Monday and haven't got the time tomorrow to install it again.
Has anyone experienced this, and anyone that knows a way to get SMS working again?
I use my laptop a lot when I ride with trains, but with SMS not working I feel kinda unsecure - dont wanna have a headcrash on the harddrive or something like that :-/

I contacted Apple today. My last call was apperently not registered in the system (sometimes the calls gets removed I was told... Ehm, what?).
The lady I talked to had to contact a technical department (and wait in a queue... Exactly as I had in 40 minuttes just to get through to her). After waiting on that, she returned to me and said that it apparently is a hardware failure so I have to bring my MB into a Service Provider (Humac here in Denmark).
I got a case number from her and is able to call Humac and ask them to get the spare parts home for that case number. When they get the spare parts, they should then call me and tell me. Afterwards I can bring the MB into the store when ever I got the time (as I use it work related, so I can't be without it for a day).
That is pretty much my 'fix'. Haven't contacted Humac yet, but will do that tomorrow. Gotta get some sleep now.
And yes, SeisMac and Neverball too is fun

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Sudden Motion Sensor -Disabled after fall?

Hello.
My Mac Book Pro had a short fall the other day. About a foot onto a carpet. Everything seems to be fine with it other than the Sudden Motion Sensor. System Profiler shows that it is disabled, and SeisMac gets no readings, but the terminal "pmset" shows that is is enabled. I tried turning it off and back on using the terminal commands, but it seemed to make no difference. Thoughts? Is it possible that the fall broke the sensor but nothing else?
Thanks
15" 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

It is possible that the drive was actaully damaged from the fall and it can no longer enable SMS. You can realisitcally do three things…
1) Replace the drive yourself
2) Do nothing
3) Call AppleCare and tell them that your SMS is not working (whether you tell tham about the fall of not is your business although is in part what the SMS is for)

Sudden Motion Sensor not working after upgrade to WD5000BEKT HDD

Hi everyone, I just upgraded the hard drive on my Macbook Pro (2010) and I am very pleased with the performance of this 7200rpm drive, I have seen reads around 105MB/s and a pretty good boot time at 23s. But I used to be able to hear the hard drive stop when I moved the computer around before due to the Sudden Motion Sensor technology and since I have the new hard drive in it doesn't seem to work anymore. I have tried switching SMS off and on and it didn't change anything, also the drive is a Western Digital Scorpio Black without Free Fall sensor (I took that version on purpose so it wouldn't conflict with the SMS). Do you have any ideas on how to make it work again? Because I really like this feature on my Mac (I have dropped a laptop before so just in case it happens again). Thanks a lot for your help.
Scott

For future reference, here are a couple of kb articles on the sudden motion sensor:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1935
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
As has been said, Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor is not actually built into the hard drive. In fact, some hard drives with their own version of a sudden motion sensor like Seagate's G-Force Protection actually will set up a conflict with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor.
I installed the same WD in my Mac as you did, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have been enjoying mine.

Sudden Motion Sensor DISABLED?!!?

I am not sure what has caused this, but recently my sudden motion sensor in my 1 month old Macbook Pro has stopped functioning. I first noticed it being disabled under the system profiler. I looked how to re-enable it through console, but that did not work.
Anyone else having problems? I fear it may be related to high temperatures (80 deg Celsius playing Halo...
I will be calling apple tuesday about this, but worry that it may be a hardware repair issue.
Responses appreciated

No on the dropping. Definately would have mentioned that if I had...
Totally came out of the blue. Called the phone line and they referre me to my local service retailer...
They're looking at it and doing some tests I assume... I'll hear back when I hear back...
VERY dissapointed in this.

After Leopard reinstall and upgrade can't order book

Had to do an erase and install yesterday and restored my harddrive from Time Machine. (My iMac hung on restart and that's the advice I got from support). Also did the 7.1.3 update.
Now, I can't order iPhoto books. It hangs on Connecting... when I hit order book, or, if I get past that, iPhoto will assemble the book and then hang when it tries to place the order and give me an error message about checking my network connections (it seems fine in other programs, but I'm not trying to upload a large file in anything else either).
Any ideas? I was hoping to order a book before the coupon expired tomorrow.
Karen

Karen, Gale & Drowzy,
Am having the same "Network Connection Error" ever since last evening. I have contacted iPhoto/Photo Services Support HERE. and will post their response as soon as I hear something. I too am worried that the special discount will expire prior to our ordering. I have talked with an Apple tech, and he did acknowledge a problem. But he suggested that I post to the above for "exact" help. You may want to do the same.
Good Luck,
John

Should I disable the sudden motion sensor after upgrading to an SSD

I put a 1TB Samsung 840 EVO in my MacBook Pro (9,1). Should I disable the sudden motion sensor? Does it do anything else other than park the hard disk (like something with the fans)?

You may want to read up on the SMS here:
Mac notebooks: About the Sudden Motion Sensor
Sounds like you can safely disable it if you wish since MacBooks which ship with an SSD drive seem to have it disabled.

Disabling OS X's Sudden Motion Sensor w/ a Seagate 7200.4 HDD

my MacBook has been having almost constant freeze-ups, roughly 15-30sec apart, and after reading around the forums for a bit, I discovered that OS X's Sudden Motion Sensor could be trying to override the shock protection my 2mo-old Seagate hard drive already has... needless to say, I disabled it about 15min ago and haven't had a single freeze-up since.
my question now is this- since I'm using Seagate's current generation 7200.4 drive and it already has its own form of shock protection, was disabling OS X's SMS a safe move? my MacBook is stationary 99.9% of the time, so I can't imagine that I'd ever have to deal with vibrations beyond the occasional optical drive buzz, but I still wanted to verify this just to be safe... thanks in advance!

"was disabling OS X's SMS a safe move?"
Yes.

Disable sudden motion sensor?

Does anyone know if there is a way to disable the sudden motion sensor? Often I get frozen for a few seconds and I think it's because of the sensor.
Suggestions?
Thanks.
Dual 1Ghz G4 MDD, MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6) Logic 7.1.1

I think it’s doubtful you’re experiencing spurious SMS activation, but I suppose it’s possible. The answer to your question about deactivating it is given on this Apple documentation page:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300724
Randall Schulz

Disabling sudden motion sensor - harmful?

I've been having an issue where my unplugged macbook would randomly shut down when moved (even slightly), but the battery was in good health. Tried the usual resets, SMC, PRAM, etc and had no problems with temperature/overheating.
The only thing that 'fixed' the issue was disabling the sudden motion sensor. Is it possible that the sudden motion sensor was hyper sensitive or something? Is it dangerous to keep it off? And is it worth getting fixed ( I'm a student out of warranty)?
Thank you.

nope... only stops working if moved from the bottom right hand corner when unplugged.

Sudden motion sensor, should I (or can I) disable it?

hi there.
I've just upgraded the hard drive in my MacBook to a Hitachi 250 Gb drive (model number HTS542525K9SA00). I'm really impressed with how quiet it is. Compared to the Seagate Momentus 160Gb drive I've just swopped out, there's no vibration & hardly any noise!
I use my MacBook for DJing with, & I just need some information about any anti shock systems that this drive may have.
Now I know that some drives have shock protection built in, & I also know that the MacBook also has it's own shock protection as well. I'm sure I read somewhere that you can have problems if you have two anti shock systems working on your computer (hitachi's system on the drive, & apple's own sudden motion sensor), & that it's best to disable one of them.
Does anyone have any info about this at all?

The only problem I have heard with this is with the Western Digital 250 GB drives. That is why I picked the 320 GB WD. If you don't hear any clicking noise you should be OK. If your still concerned contact Hitachi customer service and ask them if it will be a problem.

Drive Upgrade: Sudden Motion Sensor & SMART

Greetings,
I have a couple of technical questions regarding a Hitachi HD upgrade I am planning. I purchased the 5K500.B from Other World Computing (OWC) and had some concerns with the Apple Drive Utility when I went to format it.
I also purchased an external enclosure that I can mount my old drive in after I replace it. When I went to format the new drive (in the external enclosure) with Drive Utility, I noticed some differences between the old drive and the new drive. The original drive is a Hitachi 200 GB 7200 RPM which Apple supplied as an option. I will list my MacBook Pro information after this section. My questions are:
1) SMART status reads "Unsupported" on the new drive and "Verified" on the old drive. OWC said this is because SMART only works on internal drives and SMART will work after I install the new drive. I just want to check the accuracy of this statement.
2) My MacBook Pro has a Sudden Motion Sensor for drop protection. Is that built into the laptop or the hard drive? Will Apple's drop protection work with the new drive?
3) Is the 5K500.B really a direct replacement with all the functionality of the original drive.
My MacBook Pro information:
System Software Overview:
System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.6 (10J567)
Boot Mode: Normal
Secure Virtual Memory: Enabled
64-bit Kernel and Extensions: No
Hardware Overview:
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 5 GB
SMC Version (system): 1.28f3
Hardware UUID: 5BCEDD41-1B9B-5311-A21C-3638AEAEE5BB
Sudden Motion Sensor: State: Enabled
Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00:
Capacity: 200.05 GB (200,049,647,616 bytes)
Model: Hitachi HTS722020K9SA00
Revision: DC4AC77A
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Available: 18.03 GB (18,027,290,624 bytes)
File System: Journaled HFS+

I read in one of your posts that the sudden motion sensor can be easily disabled. Could you please tell me how?
I can be online, or not, and the crazy spinning colored disc starts to spin, then if I pick it up and set it back down usually it stops and the macbook (4,1) continues with it's work. I guess that it is the sudden motion sensor although I could be wrong...Just seems strange that it normally stops when i pick it up, tap it, gently, etc.
Could you please advise? It shows enabled in 'about this mac' but I can't find anyplace to dis-able it.
It's almost impossible to stream video, although that may be from something else.
Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.31f1
Serial Number (system): W8833DZ00P1
Hardware UUID: DE950BF6-E26F-5ACB-984B-5BB4E50816B2
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
On front of 'about this mac' it reads Memory 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, which I hadn't noticed before. It sounds like something from my old SONY VAIO!
Much, much appreciated for any help.
Thanks very much.

Second Hard Drive, Sudden Motion Sensor

Back in the fall I put a SSD in my 2007 MacBook Pro. It's working perfectly. I found the "OptiBay" product, which basically replaces your optical drive with an adapter for another hard drive. I haven't received it yet, but when I do I plan on installing it with a traditional hard drive. My question regards the sudden motion sensor (SMS). I disabled it because it's not needed for the SSD, but I was planning on re-enabling it for my secondary that I will be installing. I'm still going to boot off the SSD, though. Is there a way, or terminal code, to assign the SMS to a certain disk? I'm assuming it will just disable the root drive in the event of "sudden motion," but would this affect a secondary drive?
I'd love for there to be an option to change the identifier, from disk0s2 to disk0s3, but I have a feeling it isn't possible or would be infinitely more difficult... thanks.

Most drives are available with the equivalent of an internal SMS. You just have to check the specs. Drive manufacturers often offer two versions of their drives... one with and one without a SMS. If you get a drive with the SMS built in, you can just leave the MacBook's internal one disabled.
Here is an example of one of the most popular drives:
http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/laptops/momentus/momentus5400.6g/
Seagate's SMS technology is referred to as G-Force. Note the product number: 5400.6_g. The "g" denotes the drive has a "G-Force" sensor.

Why would I get a Sudden Motion Sensor error on a Mac Pro (not a laptop)??

Get this error all the time since upgrading to Logic 9.1.4. Thing is, I have a Mac Pro, not a laptop.
Apple sends me to this page:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1934
Should I disable sudden motion sensor? Seems silly. I am recording woth headphones, there's no movement from the computer. And again, didn't have this error for 3 years and suddenly I get it after upgrading to 9.1.4?

9.1.4 seems a bit shaky...
That said, you might try disabling "Sleep" for the drive.
As I recall, it's a generic error meaning the computer either isn't getting a response from the drive or that it can't pull data off fast enough.
pancenter-

2011 MBP - HD in Optibay - Sudden Motion Sensor?

2011 15" MacBook Pro with BTO Apple SSD.
Optibay with WD 750GB Scorpio Black.
What is the correct setting regarding the Sudden Motion Sensor?
There is conflicting information that this drive does or does not have a SMS - according to WD's website it does have "ShockGuard"
There are several that have had trouble with motion sensor in a hard drive, in the optibay and in the Mac software. Some have not... and it seems to depend on drive.
What is the correct setting - should one turn OFF Sudden Motion Sensor in the operating system? or leave it on?
and either way, does SMS or "Shockguard" work properly when in an optibay?

Jim,
I have a similar setup to yours. SSD in main MBP drive bay, and WD 750GB Scorpio Black in the optibay.
Ok, so we know that:
SMS doesn't work in the optibay.
Having the boot drive in the optibay causes hibernation issues, which could be "solved" by disabling hibernation and its creation of the /var/vm/sleepimage file.
WD has something called ShockGuard on their Scorpio Black drives:
"WD's ShockGuard technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation. WD’s SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down, and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface, resulting in improved long-term reliability due to less head wear and improved non-operational shock tolerance." [http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/SpecSheet/ENG/2879-701275.pdf]
I'm wondering if, after a few months with your setup, you still consider the WD ShockGuard to be a sufficient reason for leaving the WD Scorpio Black in the optibay.
My initial instinct is that ShockGuard may not be as effective as SMS. I wonder, in part because whenever the Scorpio Black is accessed (via spotlight usage or what have you), it stays spinning for quite a while before eventually spinning down. Do you experience this? Do you have any more advice from your experience?
Thanks.

Sudden Motion Sensor (Mobile Motion Module)

Okay folks, it's my turn to ask a question this time.
I worried about upgrading my hard drive, fearing that the Sudden Motion Sensor was built-in to Apple's OEM installed drives. I researched on the web prior to doing the upgrade (myself, by the way) and all sources pointed to the Sudden Motion Sensor being a "software"--for lack of a better term--feature that was independent of the hard drive, and regardless of what hard drive you have installed.
I trusted that information, and now that I have installed, successfully, a new 160GB Seagate 5400.3 hard drive?
My Sudden Motion Sensor doesn't work. It doesn't show up in the System Profiler like it used to, and it won't work with VirtueDesktop where there was feature that allowed me to switch desktops by "flipping" the PowerBook (not violently). And the best tester of all was the program, Seismac. It simulates earthquake movement readings, and any type of reading using the motion sensor.
I just opened up the application, and it says there is a problem detecting the Sudden Motion Sensor feature and will not run.
My PowerBook is the 1.67GHz/1.5GHz model A1106.
Thanks for any suggestions, and help. (I put everything back together correctly, I believe, after the installation of the hard drive).

I don't remember where I read it, but I read that if you put in a hard drive--like the one you mentioned, but that can't work in our PowerBooks or any for that matter--that has its own built-in Sudden Motion Sensor type technology, it will conflict with Apple's "software"-based technology.
I wonder if Seagate's 160GB 5400.3 drive has it? I haven't read proving this.
Plus, since my last posting, it shows up, goes away, shows up, goes away. One day two weeks ago, the Sudden Motion Sensor showed up as being enabled in Apple System Profiler. Excitedly, I ran Seismac. It started up, but then?
FROZE. And the entire machine locked up as well. (PC?).
Now don't get me wrong, anyone reading this. This Seagate drive is fabulous. It is the conflict with Sudden Motion Sensor that I'm trying to decipher!
So again, anyone out there with similar findings, be it a similar Seagate drive, or any other hard drive upgrade, let us know your findings. =)

Sudden Motion Sensor disabled constantly after Leopard install and upgrade

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